"Fire and fury" has become "locked and loaded" as President Donald Trump's warnings against North Korea's threats to U.S. military installations and its nuclear ambitions continue.

But some diplomats have been engaged in back-channel diplomacy with the communist nation for several months, The Associated Press reports. People familiar with the contacts say their efforts haven't been able to ease the growing tensions, yet they could set a foundation for negotiation.

Advertisement

In a Friday morning tweet, however, Trump said "Military solutions are now fully in place, locked and loaded, should North Korea act unwisely. Hopefully Kim Jong Un will find another path!"

Military solutions are now fully in place,locked and loaded,should North Korea act unwisely. Hopefully Kim Jong Un will find another path!

Asked what he meant by "locked and loaded" while hosting a workforce roundtable Friday afternoon, Trump replied simply "What I said is what I mean."

The message comes on the heels of an early Friday statement from North Korea's state-run media accusing the president of pushing the Korean peninsula to the "brink of a nuclear war."

North Korea said it has drawn up plans to launch four missiles near the small island of Guam, a U.S. territory and military hub. Earlier in the week, it was revealed by intelligence reports that the Kim regime has miniaturized nuclear warheads for use in ballistic missiles -- this, coming after a pair of ICBM tests in recent weeks.

"If he does anything with respect to Guam," Trump said Friday afteroon," he will truly regret it, and he will regret it fast."

On Thursday, Trump doubled down on his "fire and fury" comments from earlier in the week, vowing "North Korea better get their act together, or they are going to be in trouble like few nations have ever been in trouble."

In the same speech, Trump said he'd favor talks with the hostile nation and more action on the diplomatic front than his White House predecessors. Members of the administration, including Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary James Mattis, have stressed that diplomacy is the preferred route to resolving the growing crisis. Tillerson has even suggested the presence of the back-channel contacts.

“We have other means of communication open to (North Korea), to certainly hear from them if they have a desire to want to talk,” Tillerson said this week in the Philippines.

The back-channel has been used off-and-on by past administrations, according to the AP, but it was cut off in the final months of the Obama era after a new set of sanctions were imposed. The communication started again after Trump was inaugurated.

The renewed tensions are likely to remain high as officials announced Friday plans for large-scale and regularly scheduled U.S.-South Korea military exercises will continue. The annual actions, set for Aug. 21-31, typically rile up North Korea.

The situation is drawing the eyes of the world, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and German Chancellor Angela Merkel each discouraging the use of military force.